EU Lawmaker Questions France’s Approval of Crypto Exchange Binance

A French lawmaker is urging the country’s market regulator to reconsider its “incomprehensible” decision last month to OK the cryptocurrency exchange Binance.

As the Financial Times reported Monday (June 27),  Aurore Lalucq, French MEP and member of the European parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, wants the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) to review its ruling, which she said gave Binance a “guarantee of respectability.”

The report noted that Lalucq’s comments are part of a larger wave of concern about the AMF’s decision in May to register one of Binance’s subsidiaries as a digital assets services company.

While Binance received a warm welcome in France, the trading platform hasn’t been as lucky in other countries.

As PYMNTS reported, the company has been investigated in the U.S. by a host of federal agencies, including the IRS, Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

And last June, the Financial Conduct Authority in the U.K. said Binance was “not capable of being effectively supervised,” warning that its “complex and high-risk financial products” posed “a significant risk to consumers.”

More recently, the FCA said it was concerned about possible risk to consumers stemming from a deal giving Binance access to U.K. payments network Paysafe.